County's statement says it supports parts of water, but must review language

San Joaquin County issued a statement this afternoon saying that it supports many provisions in the state’s new $7.5 billion bond but now must carefully review the language to determine if the proposal adequately protects the Delta.

Of the five Delta counties, San Joaquin is the only county that has not yet announced support for the bond, which will appear on the November ballot.

The bond won the full support of Delta state legislators.

Today's statement from San Joaquin County supervisors acknowledges an improvement over the old, $11 billion bond that was taken off the ballot this week.

However, the county still questions whether there might be a connection between the new bond and Gov. Jerry Brown’s controversial twin tunnels. Supporters of the bond have touted it as neutral on the tunnels.

“Having received revised bill language only a few hours prior to the to the Legislature’s vote, San Joaquin County remains concerned that the last minute deal may have resulted in a bond that is not truly (tunnels) neutral,” Supervisor Carlos Villapudua said in the prepared statement. “We want assurances from the state that in no way will this massive tunnel project be funded by water bond dollars that should be spent on tangible statewide water solutions.”